Death Toll From Gaza Strikes Hits 104  10/30 06:14

   

   DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Israel's military said Wednesday that the 
ceasefire was back on in Gaza after it carried out heavy airstrikes overnight 
across the Palestinian territory that killed 104 people, including 66 women and 
children, according to local health officials.

   The strikes, the deadliest since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, marked the 
most serious challenge to the tenuous truce to date.

   The bombardment pointed to Israel's readiness to strike hard at what it says 
are Hamas violations of the ceasefire deal. Meanwhile the militant group denies 
it is responsible and blames Israel for violations.

   After it announced the restoration of the ceasefire, the Israeli military 
said it carried out another airstrike in northern Gaza, targeting what it 
called a site where weapons were being stored for an imminent attack. Al-Shifa 
Hospital in Gaza City said it received two bodies from the strike.

   The latest violence puts new strains on American pressure to keep the 
ceasefire on track. U.S. President Donald Trump defended Israel's strikes but 
also insisted the escalation won't wreck the truce.

   Israel said its overnight strikes were in retaliation for the shooting and 
killing of an Israeli soldier in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza. Prime 
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said Hamas violated provisions in the deal 
concerning the handover of remains of hostages.

   Hamas denied any involvement in the deadly shooting and, in turn, accused 
Israel of "a blatant violation of the ceasefire deal." It also said it would 
delay handing over the body of another hostage to Israel because of the strikes.

   Deadly strikes across Gaza

   The strikes across Gaza in the early hours Wednesday pounded buildings and 
tent camps housing displaced families.

   Ambulances and small trucks carrying bodies crowded hospital entrances. In 
Deir al-Balah, bodies were wheeled in on stretchers or carried on mattresses. 
One man walked into a hospital carrying the body of a young child.

   "They burned children while they were asleep," Haneen Mteir, whose sister 
and nephews were killed in a strike, shouted at the morgue in at Nasser 
Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.

   The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least 104 people, including 20 women 
and 46 children, were killed in the overnight strikes and 253 people were 
wounded, most of them women and children.

   The Israeli military said in a statement Wednesday that it struck dozens of 
Hamas targets, including individuals, observation posts, weapons depots, mortar 
firing positions and tunnels.

   It said it hit a number of senior Hamas fighters, including 21 commanders of 
various levels. It said they included militants involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, 
Hamas-led attack on Israel that started the war, including Nukhba company 
commander Hatem Maher Mousa Qudra, who led the attack on the Ein Hashlosha 
Kibbutz, the statement said.

   The military said it would continue to "respond firmly and act decisively to 
eliminate any threat to the State of Israel."

   Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said Hamas was 
responsible for the consequences of its ceasefire violation and attributed the 
high death toll to the militant group using civilians as human shields.

   Throughout the war, Israel has often hit targets it says are Hamas figures 
while in their homes or shelters where their families are also located 
alongside other families.

   How the strikes were triggered

   An Israeli military official said Wednesday that the soldier in Rafah, 
identified as Master Sgt. Yona Efraim Feldbaum, 37, was killed by "enemy fire" 
that targeted his vehicle on Tuesday.

   The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential 
military operations, said Israeli troops in the area came under attack numerous 
times on Tuesday as they worked to destroy tunnels and Hamas infrastructure. 
The Israeli military has leveled almost the entire city of Rafah over the past 
months, demolishing nearly every building, according to satellite photos.

   Hamas insisted it was not involved in the Rafah gunfire, reiterated its 
commitment to the ceasefire and called on mediators to pressure Israel to stop.

   Trump defends Israel

   Marmorstein, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Washington was informed 
about the strikes and that they were carried out in full coordination with the 
United States.

   Trump, on a trip to Asia, defended the strikes, saying Israel was justified 
in carrying them out after Hamas killed the Israeli soldier, who also held U.S. 
citizenship.

   Trump said Israel "should hit back" when its troops come under attack. But 
he said he's still confident the ceasefire would withstand the escalation in 
violence because "Hamas is a very small part of the overall Middle East peace. 
And they have to behave."

   If not, they will be "terminated," Trump added.

   Trading accusations

   Netanyahu accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire by handing over body 
parts this week that Israel said were partial remains of a hostage recovered 
earlier in the war. Israeli officials also accused Hamas of staging the 
discovery of some of the remains Monday, sharing a 14-minute, edited video from 
a military drone.

   Hamas replied in kind on Wednesday, saying the Israeli strikes reveal "a 
clear Israeli intention to undermine the ceasefire agreement and impose new 
realities by force." The group also said in a statement that the U.S. is 
offering Netanyahu a "political cover" to carry on with its aggression in Gaza.

   The prime minister of Qatar, which mediated the ceasefire deal along with 
the U.S. and Egypt, said there was a violation of the ceasefire agreement "by 
the Palestinian party," but it was unclear if Hamas was affiliated with the 
gunmen responsible.

   The fighting was "very disappointed and frustrating for us," Sheikh Mohammed 
bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said, speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in 
New York. "We've been engaging in a very intensive way with both parties in 
order to ensure that the ceasefire holds."

   The ceasefire deal requires Hamas to return all the remains of hostages in 
Gaza as soon as possible.

   Hamas has said it is struggling to locate the bodies of the hostages amid 
the vast destruction in Gaza, while Israel has accused the militant group of 
purposely delaying their return.

   There are still 13 bodies of hostages in Gaza and their slow return is 
complicating efforts to proceed to the ceasefire's next phases, which address 
even thornier issues, including the disarmament of Hamas, deployment of an 
international security force in Gaza and deciding who will govern the territory.

   Funeral prayers at Gaza hospitals

   In Gaza, Palestinians were reeling after the strikes. At dawn, Palestinians 
at a displaced camp cleared remains of a destroyed tent next to a crater. They 
found the body of a small child and wrapped it in a blanket.

   "What kind of a ceasefire is this?" Amna Qrinawi said.

   At Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza, scores of people gathered around dozens 
of bodies wrapped in white shrouds for funeral prayers.

   Yehya Eid, who said he lost his brother and nephews, wept over a small body 
in a bloodied white shroud outside the hospital. He said the strike came 
without warning.

   "These are children who were killed. What did they do wrong? Did they fight 
in the war?" Eid asked.

   Israel's two-year campaign in Gaza has killed more than 68,500 Palestinians, 
according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between 
civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry maintains detailed casualty 
records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent 
experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.